Over the last few months we've heard of viruses developed as Proof of Concept. Not really meant to do any harm nor intended to spread into the wild, these Proof of Concept viruses are supposed to be non-lethal. There were several that were developed, one for the Windows Mobile platform and one for the Series 60 Symbian platform. The one that is spreading right now is the one for the Series 60 Symbian platform called "Caribe."

Apparently, the "Caribe" virus has been released into the wild here in the Philippines. And while it really takes a careless person to really get this thing installed into a device, it seems that a lot are falling victim to it. Some have used it as a prank and have spread it to unknowing Series 60 owners as "a new game". Nasty indeed. But it seems that another group of people have actually taken advantage of the non-techies who are ignorant about the Proof of Concept "Caribe" installer.

While a simple deletion is all that is needed, people are now charging as much as PhP500.00 to PhP1,000.00 a pop for virus removal. That's about US$9.00 to about US$18.00 for a simple solution that costs nothing.

This brings into mind the other Proof of Concept virus which was developed for the Windows Mobile platform. Will Microsoft's Application Signing be a deterrent for such malicious intentions?